Heretic’s sensory screenings don’t stink and that’s the problem

I love a gimmick. If there’s a movie trying something new or restrictive, I want to see how the filmmakers pull it off. So when I smelled that A24 had partnered with olfactory-based tech company Joya Studio for multi-sensory screenings of Heretic, I blew my nose and prepared to sniff the hell out of this thing. Reader, I honked my schoz for naught.

Heretic, a fine horror film, was not improved in any way, shape, or scent by Joya’s blueberry pie-perfumed auditorium. Joya developed a more immersive stink technique by dispersing “scented molecules as fine, dry air.” Unfortunately, “multi-sensory” experience ends at the door. When you enter the Joya-powered theater for Heretic, the scent of blueberry pie wallops the senses. It’s enough to get your mouth watering because their blueberry pie, with its hits of crust, smells authentic. However, having entered under the impression that scratch and sniff cards would be handed out, I expected a slew of aromas throughout the movie. There was no scratching, and there was no sniffing. The cards may be for non-Joya screenings, but a second fragrance could’ve livened up the experience.

The whole experience hinges around the film’s most marketable scene, an early meeting between the deceptive Mr. Reed (Hugh Grant) and the two young missionaries hoping to sell him on Mormonism. To lure his prey into his home, he tells Sisters Barnes (Sophie Thatcher) and Paxton (Chloe East) that his wife is cooking a pie in the other room. At that moment, the Joya product filters into the theater, filling it with a bakery-fresh aroma. As Reed re-enters the scene with a scented candle of his own, the overworked crew of Alamo Drafthouse hands out a slice of pie, concluding the sensory experience. In theory, matching smell and taste should create a more immersive experience. It didn’t, but, hey, at least serving pie to all the attendees was distracting. Had the gimmick been more potent, these issues probably would have stuck out less, but once you’re having diminished experience, it’s hard to focus on the positives.

There is a special place for gimmickry in horror movies. Throughout the ’60s and ’70s, schlockmeister William Castle was the king of it, pioneering ideas like the “Illusion-O” vision for 13 Ghosts, allowing audiences to see ghosts that the characters cannot, and The Tingler’s seat buzzers, which sent literal tingles down the spine. Castle’s Scent Of Mystery introduced the Joya-precursor “Smell-O-Vision,” essentially scratch-and-sniff cards to be scratched and sniffed at different parts of the movie. In 1981, John Waters paid tribute to Castle with Polyester, presented in glorious “Odorama.” It’s an experience that repertory theaters still recreate to this day.

The press release promised a “unique experience [that] will fully immerse audiences in the cinematic journey by activating their sense of smell.” But after the pie is served, the extra sensory element of the evening of the film ends. It’s a shame, too, because the movie has opportunities for all types of aromatics, from the rotten wood and rich mahogany of Reed’s chappel to “musty boardgame” and blood and blueberry vomit for when things start to turn. Alas, all I got a whiff of throughout the rest of the film was my fellow viewer’s churro popcorn. It smelled delicious.

Heretic opens on November 15, 2024.